2011-07-28 - Drinking Buddies
It's well into the night, and the party at the Electric Blue is in full swing. The music is loud, people are dancing, and a good many of them are well and truly hammered already. One of those who isn't (though not for lack of alcohol) is a big man seated at the bar on the second level, presently apparently engaged in challenging the bartender to come up with the strangest drink mixtures he can...just because, apparently. Usually, Tony comes here looking for a certain woman. This time, he's not here with her...and she's not here without him. Hrm. For now, he makes his way up to the second level bar. Where somebody is playing Cocktail Roulette. The big man downs the latest in the series in a single gulp, making a face afterwards. "Damn...that was the worst yet. Keep it up!" He slams the mug back down on the counter, sliding it back across to the bartender, who just shakes his head, starting another random mixture...as the man turns around, spotting who just came in. "Well, well...Tony Stark, ain't it?" Guilty, as charged, although clearly in low key mode. Dressed down, and seeming quite relaxed. As he's recognized, he does lift a hand in a kind of signal or salute to the man, stranger or no stranger. "John Norris. C'mon, sit down. I'll buy ya a drink. What're you havin'?" John asks, turning back to the bar. "Don't advise any of this guy's crazy mixes, unless you've got a strong stomach. Last one tasted like sewage." "You're offering to buy me a drink?" Tony is rather amused...he could probably buy the entire bar, after all. He does sit down, though. "Cocktail roulette is always rather risky. John shrugs. "I figure we trade off. I buy you a few drinks, you buy me an F-35 Lightning or something." He chuckles. "Hey, maybe you are one of the richest guys around, but I don't think that means you always gotta pay, right? Let a guy be your pal for the night." Tony Stark hrms. "As long as you only mean a drinking pal, 'cause I don't swing that way." Plus, Jean would probably mind whammy him into thinking he was a little girl if he flirted with anyone else. Ahem. Tony settles onto his stool. John laughs. "Yeah, that's all. Relax." The barkeep hands over his latest mixture to John, and looks at Tony to get his order. John takes another swig, and it seems like it darn near kills him this time, as he goes facedown on the bar for a few moments. He finally gets back up, and grins. "Perfect! That's the one. Give me another." He looks at Tony. "Tell you what. You see someone you wanna spend some time with, you tell me to shove off. 'till then I'm your best pal. Ain't every day a guy gets to say he went out drinking with Stark." Tony Stark considers, then. "Let's keep the trend of challenging the bar keep. How about an F-69?" Ow. That's a tough one. It is a tough one...but apparently the barkeep's up to the challenge. Good thing. If Tony does end up buying the place he can keep the bartender. "I salute you, sir," John says, grinning. "So, what makes Tony Stark come out all by his lonesome and hang with us mere mortals? You could buy this whole place and host your own party." "I could, but I don't really need it." He's got places to host parties, after all. "And eh. Slumming," he admits. "I even manage to be unrecognized here. Sometimes." John chuckles. "No such luck tonight, huh. Sorry about that." Both drinks are delivered. "Was gonna say something about how surprising that is, but then I thought about it. Bar. Most patrons sloshed." He grins. "Not so surprising after all, then." Tony Stark nods. "And half of them looking at the women...and not all of those guys, either," he admits. There are some quite hot chicks there tonight. "Also a good point." John looks off the the side for a moment, and chuckles, as a clearly-already-drunken man stumbles up the steps, and drains his second terrible drink of the night, with much the same reaction as the first. As the drunken man ambles up to the bar, John signals the barkeep. "One of these for my buddy here," he says, slapping the drunk on the shoulder. The drunk looks up in confusion, but clearly isn't one to refuse a drink. "Careful. Don't poison the guy." Tony sniffs at what John's drinking. "Heck, man, don't poison yourself." Says the guy drinking something with at least four different kinds of booze in it. John chuckles. "Relax, I'll be fine." The barkeep hesitates for a moment, but at John's nod, brings the drunk a Norris Special, which the man takes gratefully, with no clue what he's in for. One drink later and the drunk is bent over the counter trying not to lose everything. Which is when John reaches smoothly over, grabs him by the back of the head, and shoves him face-first, hard, into the counter with a loud thud. The drunk slumps unconscious to the ground, and the barkeep scampers back, dropping a glass. And for the first time in months...Tony's NOT carrying his briefcase. As his 'pal' abruptly starts a bar fight, or tries to, he stands up, steps back, and glances around. Apparently, somebody's taught him the basics, at least, because it's not the reaction of 'rich guy who lets his bodyguards protect him'. Except that a lot of things may not be as they first appeared. John smiles widely at Stark, chuckling at his reaction. "All right, folks, we're all clear. Target's been disabled, you can come pick him up." He kneels down next to the man, pulling out a pair of handcuffs, and cuffs the drunk's hands behind his back, then looks up at Tony. "Sorry about that, Stark. Would've warned you, but all this had to look normal and I wasn't sure how you'd react." "So, he was faking it?" Tony doesn't sound too concerned. Of course, John would know he's been through worse than some guy going after him in a bar. John shakes his head. "Oh, no, I sure hope not. We've had folks buying this guy drinks for the past two hours. Get him good and drunk, direct him up towards me, and I finish the poor sucker off. Stops him from being able to focus, which means he can't light me and this whole place up good. Especially if he's too hammered to realize something's up until he gets, well...hammered." He gestures down at the unconscious man. "Pyrokinetic. Responsible for a few arsons the past few days." A couple other "bar patrons" come up from downstairs, taking the poor guy and starting to drag him off. "So...is it Detective John Norris, then?" Tony moves to sit back down, rather relieved. "Or are you more...independent?" He's rather suspecting this guy's hunting bounty, from his mannerisms and overall rough edges. "Agent, actually. But as of now, I'm off-duty John Norris. Boys in the van...show's over." John pulls an earbud out and tosses it casually into what's left of the guy's drink. "We cool, Stark? Really sorry about all that. We've been trying to direct folks away from this part of the bar, subtle as we can, but you can't really turn Tony Stark away without chancing somebody getting wise." "It's fine. Nobody punched me this time." This time? Sounds like he wandered into a bar fight recently. He really doesn't seem that bothered. "However, I am not sampling that drink." John grins. "Trust me, I don't blame ya." He grins at the barkeep, who has calmed down already (meaning he's probably been in the middle of a fight or two as well). "Thanks for your help, buddy." He looks over at Stark again, and raises his eyebrows. "This time? You start a lot of barfights, Stark?" "I didn't start it," Tony notes, evenly. He sadly can't admit to finishing it, either. Ted did that. John chuckles. "Just caught in the middle. Well, that happens sometimes. Believe it or not, I don't start many myself. You move like you can take care of yourself, though. That's good. Too many folks think someone else'll do it for 'em." "I don't like taking bodyguards everywhere," Tony admits. "So I took some classes. Self defense, basics, that sort of thing." John nods. "Smart. Guy like you is gonna be a target no matter what, so if you're ever gonna get on your own, you'd better be able to defend yourself." He laughs. "'course then you go and have a few drinks, and I gotta say I think that kinda undoes whatever good you did with those classes, but a guy's gotta live free, right?" Tony Stark shrugs. "I only had one." Yeah. Like that would have been the only one he had tonight. True, he's not as bad as he sometimes is...at the moment, thanks to a cute redhead, but... John smirks, clearly not buying it. "Yeah, whatever. I ain't your pop. Just take care of yourself, Stark. Nobody else will." "I do." He doesn't believe that nobody else will, mind. He has friends...and more than friends. And Ted, who falls into a weird category of his own. John smiles. "I bet. Well, I'd better take off." He lays cash down on the bar for his and Stark's drinks (and the poor arsonist's as well), plus some for the trouble. "See ya again, Stark. Next time you buy." With that, he heads for the stairs. Category:Logs